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Eng. Championship News :: West brom go up as Champions

Posted on 2008-05-05 by Gooner

West Brom claimed the Coca-Cola Championship title with goals from Do-heon Kim and Chris Brunt that secured a 2-0 victory at 10-man QPR on Sunday.

The result meant West Brom clinched top spot on 81 points, two ahead of second-placed Stoke who could only manage a goalless draw at home to relegated Leicester.

Rangers goalkeeper Lee Camp produced fine saves to deny Roman Bednar and Brunt in an otherwise disappointing opening 45 minutes which saw Martin Rowlands sent off for a two-footed challenge on Jonathan Greening.

But substitute Kim, who had only been on the pitch for eight minutes, headed home Zoltan Gera's cross in the 53rd minute to register his first goal of the season and send a partisan Baggies following into dreamland.

Brunt, who had earlier hit the crossbar, then let fly with a superb free-kick to confirm West Brom's return to the top flight after two seasons in the second tier.

Afterwards they received the Football League trophy on the pitch, amid scenes of jubilation.

Delighted boss Tony Mowbray said: "This is a proud moment. When you think back to when we lost to Burnley on the opening day, we've come a long way and made a lot of progress.

"Credit to the players who have won more games and scored more goals than anyone else and rightly ended up as champions.

"There's a great debate in football about whether it's all about winning or all about entertaining. There's got to be a balance and we've got that balance right."

Mowbray, who plans to open talks with out-of-contract duo Zoltan Gera and Kevin Phillips, pledged to continue his attacking approach next season.

"Hopefully we'll have a good shot at it at the next level," he said.

"You do need to adjust in the Premier League. There are better players there and you need to have a gameplan, but we'll still go out to try to win matches.

"There will be times when we play against better teams, but there are also times when we can surprise teams and put them onto the back foot."

Sourced From : SportingLife

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